The present invention relates generally to techniques that sense thermal stimuli. In particular, implementations employ, in combination, thermally conductive structures or components and thermometer elements or other thermal sensors that receive thermal stimuli from the thermally conductive structures or components. Such combinations can be used, for example, in a calorimeter, a term used herein to refer to any device or apparatus that measures quantities of absorbed or evolved heat or determines specific heats; the use of a calorimeter is referred to herein as calorimetry.
Calorimetry can measure enthalpic changes, including enthalpic changes arising from reactions, phase changes, changes in molecular conformation, temperature variations, and other variations of interest that may occur for a particular specimen. By measuring enthalpic changes over a series of conditions, other thermodynamic variables may be deduced. For example, measurements of enthalpy as a function of temperature reveal the heat capacity of a specimen, and titrations of reacting components can be used to deduce the binding constant and effective stoichiometry for a reaction.
Various calorimetry techniques have been proposed. U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,413, for example, describes a microcalorimeter device with a thin amorphous membrane anchored to a frame. Thermometers and heaters are on one side of a thermal conduction layer mounted on the central portion of the membrane. First and second samples can be placed on membranes of first and second microcalorimeters, and each sample can be heated and its heat capacity determined. The samples can then be mixed by sandwiching the microcalorimeters, and the heat from the resulting reaction can then be measured.
Previous techniques in sensing or detecting heat or temperature have a number of limitations. It would be advantageous to have additional techniques for conducting thermal stimuli to thermometer elements or other thermal sensors. In particular, it would be advantageous to have techniques that could be used in very sensitive calorimetry.